Nationalism in the sports press in Mandatory Palestine

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze and extract the national tendency in sports journalism in Palestine from the twenties of the last century until 1948, and the development of sports journalism in Palestine during that period. It also aimed to study the conflict in the sports arena that existed between Arabs and Zionists and its impact on the course and development of sports and sports journalism, and the role played by this press in shaping social awareness and deepening the Palestinian national identity. The historical method was used, relying on documentation for this stage, through a review of the Palestinian newspapers in that era, including Palestine newspaper, Al-Karmel newspaper and the Defense newspaper, in addition to the Palestinian Encyclopedia of Education and based on articles published by a number of pioneers of the Palestinian sports movement on websites. It was concluded that all the achievements in the field of sports at the Palestinian level are only the result of a continuous process of national efforts that the Palestinian people have waged for decades in which the Palestinian sports press accompanied sports activity in its various historical stages since the inception of the Palestine newspaper in 1911 through the twenties until the catastrophe in 1948, during which it reflected the development of the Palestinian sports movement, during which it was subjected to the political conditions that the Palestinian people went through from the twenties of the last century until the Nakba. The sports press also worked to counter the Zionist domination over the sports movement and to try to marginalize the Arabs and keep them away from it.